(A sermon preached August 26, 2007 at University United Methodist Church, East Lansing MI by John Ross Thompson

Sermon Texts: Luke 13:10-17 and  Jeremiah 1:4-10

In this weekend’s issue of Time Magazine, there is an amazing story about Mother Teresa, who without doubt is one of the best-known personalities of the last century. The story is about her private spiritual struggle, based on her letters and conversations with her confessors.

This woman, who has already been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church on her way to canonization as a saint, spent a major part of her life not feeling the presence of God in her life.  For more than 50 years, with only one period of time that was different, she felt abandoned by God, longing for assurance of God’s presence.

Of course, this did not keep her from living the saintly life of caring for the dying and others on the margins of society.  That is why she is so revered today.

What I like about this story is that most of us can identify with her.  If Mother Teresa had long periods of time without a strong sense of God’s presence with her, is it at all surprising that we, too, go through spiritually dry times?

Many centuries ago, St. John of the Cross called this the “dark night of the soul.”   For us, it can be times of doubt or spiritually fallow periods.  It is the times between the “God moments” when we know God’s love and presence without doubt.

I find a significant number of persons who believe that God does not speak to us today.  Some will say that God was real to those in Biblical times, but they don’t have any proof today that God is active in our lives.  We need to talk together about these times, and I invite you to speak with each other and with your pastors about it.

Those of you who call yourselves doubters or skeptics certainly have a key role in our life together as a congregation.  If Mother Teresa needed more assurance of what God is doing, certainly it’s not wrong for us to feel the same.

However, I am pleased let you know that this is not true for everyone.  In at least one case, about a month ago in this church, God spoke very clearly to one of us.

Please turn with me to Hymn 693, And Can It Be That I Should Gain.  This Charles Wesley hymn is one of my favorites.  It’s hard to sing at first, but when you get the tune and learn the words, it sticks in your mind for hours. However, a month ago when we were singing it, I confess that I was acting like a pastor and worrying about whether or not you would like the hymn.

Please notice verse three.  When we were singing it, and we came to the words “the chains fell off”, Helen McLaughlin received an answer to a long-standing prayer.  As she told us soon afterward, she knew that God was speaking to her through that hymn.  She had been praying for a long time about whether or not to have back surgery, to relieve the significant pain she has had for a long time.   As we sang verse three, she knew her chains of indecision had fallen off, and she was ready to undergo the surgery.  Two weeks ago, she underwent her surgery in Ann Arbor.  Now, in her difficult days of recovery, this assurance of God’s answer sustains her.

Today’s scripture lesson couldn’t be closer to that very story.  Jesus meets a woman with a long-term ailment who is bent over.  She tells her to “stand up straight” and she is healed.  When I asked Sue Rebeck this past week how Helen was doing after her surgery, she told me that Helen’s words were, “I’m taller.”

Jesus touched a woman bent over, and she stood up straight.  There are many of us here today who also need to stand up straight.  Some of us may have back ailments, but many others of us are bent over with worry, distress over relationships, physical illness, or other situations that keep us from trying embracing life in its God-given fullness.

The Jeremiah text for today is also about one who cannot stand up straight. Jeremiah believed that, because he was only a youth, he could not follow God’s will.  God made it clear that he was able to stand up straight with self-confidence and follow what God was calling him to do.

We have just returned from a week in Europe, primarily to attend a wedding in the family of an international exchange student who stayed with our family years ago.  The wedding was in the former East Germany, which is now coming alive with development and the prosperity that freedom often brings.

However, we saw clear evidence in the family that we visited that the oppressive government of the former German Democratic Republic was still causing distress to its people.  Both the mother and the sister of the groom are persons who have suffered because of the expectations and limitations that had been placed upon them.  Hannah, the groom’s sister, is in therapy now because of being taken away from her parents for a period of time when she was very young, simply because she had a physical ailment.  She, her mother, and others are learning to “stand up straight” in the confidence and assurance of God’s love to face life victoriously.  They are finding hope for their future now, just as we can do.

This fall, as we enter a busy time of school, work and schedules, I believe God through Christ is telling us to “Stand Up Straight!”  Whether it be illness, new beginnings, confusion about the future, difficulties with relationships or whatever the distress may be, Christ brings healing and hope.  He can take what bends us over and help us with confidence to move ahead.

We can all face what is coming with confidence and faith, even for those of us who do not now feel God’s presence.

God is faithful and will patiently wait for you.

God is with you, and so is the love of the congregation, whether you are a long-time member or brand new.   Trust in the one who heals and brings hope, and pray for that answer that is from our loving, giving God.  Stand up straight!